How do I slow down a scan of a specific freq range?

[Shawnzen]

Hi—I have a BCT15x that I am trying to set up for a very specific purpose: omnidirectional scanning of the 216-222mhz range used for animal tracking collars, and no other bands. I've managed to set up custom search of the range, but it just flies through it so fast that it never catches the beeps from the collars, which emit a short beep on one second intervals. IS there a way to slow it down? Also, I've noticed it is scanning up to 4 digits after the decimal and I only need to scan three (not sure how to phrase that properly).

I'm a Mac user, so I am not able to take advantage of the programming software. Any help would be much appreciated and will be happy to share any success stories.

 

[mc48]

I don't have a BCT15X but this may help. Easier to Read BCT15-X Scanner Manual (marksscanners.com)
You may want to try pausing search (hold) and manually advance to the next frequency one step at a time.

 

[Hit_Factor]

This is solution to the step size (number of decimal points) question - from the link provided in previous post. This alone, may solve your problem, which I believe may be scanning too much.

You would be better off identifying the actual operating freq of the collars using close call, then scan just those few freqs. Scanning slower is probably not the solution.

Band Defaults basically, this setting allows you change the 'Auto' values you can select while programming frequencies, searches, etc. to whatever you feel 'Auto' should be for each band (vs. the radio defaults). Since all of the step and modulation settings default to 'Auto', this allows you to skip those settings when programming. Note: This setting has no effect on service searches.

Scroll to the band you wish to edit and press E/●. Refer to Auto Step Size chart to help find the bands in the menu.

At 'Set Modulation' scroll to AM, NFM, FM, WFM, or FMB (Broadcast) and press E/● to save and exit. At 'Set Step' scroll to Auto, 5, 6.25, 7.5, 8.33, 10, 12.5, 15, 20, 25, 50, or 100 kHz and press E/● to save and exit.

Scroll to any other bands you wish to edit and repeat. Press MENU to return.

 

[wscranston]

Not sure I understand - why would high search speed negatively affect the ability to pick up a transmission? It repeatedly searches and if there is a transmission on the frequency it will pick it up and stop, no matter how fast it is searching. A higher search speed is generally what you want.

You can change the step size by editing the band defaults: Menu->Settings->Band Defaults->Scroll to Band->Set Step

 

[KevinC]

If you have a set number of known frequencies just enter those in and scan them to keep from going through hundreds of frequencies.

 

[phask]

Hi—I have a BCT15x that I am trying to set up for a very specific purpose: omnidirectional scanning of the 216-222mhz range used for animal tracking collars, and no other bands. I've managed to set up custom search of the range, but it just flies through it so fast that it never catches the beeps from the collars, which emit a short beep on one second intervals. IS there a way to slow it down? Also, I've noticed it is scanning up to 4 digits after the decimal and I only need to scan three (not sure how to phrase that properly).

I'm a Mac user, so I am not able to take advantage of the programming software. Any help would be much appreciated and will be happy to share any success stories.

Do you actually know the frequencies?

I may be wrong, but it seems that you do not know and are attempting to locate animals for some nefarious purpose. I apologize if I am wrong.

It is faster by far for a scanner to scan even 100 entered freqs. that search through a section of the band. Someone advised close call, but I doubt that there is enough signal strength of it.

 

[Hit_Factor]

I may be wrong, but it seems that you do not know and are attempting to locate animals for some nefarious purpose. I apologize if I am wrong.

I assumed this was for various hunting dog competitions and hunting in general. Icom has a portable receiver that is favored for this purpose.

 

[phask]

I assumed this was for various hunting dog competitions and hunting in general. Icom has a portable receiver that is favored for this purpose.

I think it is used for all sorts of wildlife, endangered and domestic.

 

[techman210]

I believe you have the wrong tool for the job.

Most animal trucking transmitters that I know of do not transmit a modulated radio signal. They transmit a a series of dead carriers like Morse code.

if that’s what you’re trying to pick up, you’ll need a radio receiver with a BFO that supports either CW or sideband demodulation. The cheapest way to do this is just get a SDR dongle.

 

[spacellamaman]

25khz step size, FM modulation, and the squelch +1 above minimum, perhaps as low as squelch =02. If still no results, change the modulation to AM.

 

[Shawnzen]

Not sure I understand - why would high search speed negatively affect the ability to pick up a transmission? It repeatedly searches and if there is a transmission on the frequency it will pick it up and stop, no matter how fast it is searching. A higher search speed is generally what you want.

You can change the step size by editing the band defaults: Menu->Settings->Band Defaults->Scroll to Band->Set Step

I was assuming that since the transmission is a short beep every one second, that the scanner would need to pause on each freq for one second to be able to hear it.

 

[Shawnzen]

Do you actually know the frequencies?

I may be wrong, but it seems that you do not know and are attempting to locate animals for some nefarious purpose. I apologize if I am wrong.

It is faster by far for a scanner to scan even 100 entered freqs. that search through a section of the band. Someone advised close call, but I doubt that there is enough signal strength of it.

Nothing nefarious, just looking for large marine debris that has been marked with a dog collar.

I have the custom search range set now at 216.000 - 221.999 MHz, NFM modulation (FM didn’t change anything), and 25 MHz step. I just realized yesterday that I may have the wrong antenna, as even if I enter the freq of my test collar directly, I don’t get a proper strong beep, but rather a click of static. I have an email into a wildlife telemetry company about an omni specific to that range.

 

[Shawnzen]

I believe you have the wrong tool for the job.

Most animal trucking transmitters that I know of do not transmit a modulated radio signal. They transmit a a series of dead carriers like Morse code.

if that’s what you’re trying to pick up, you’ll need a radio receiver with a BFO that supports either CW or sideband demodulation. The cheapest way to do this is just get a SDR dongle.

This is very interesting, even if I’m not sure what you’re talking about! 😬. I suspect that the receiver in the attached oic is what you’re talking about (and is what I’m waiting for, but has been delayed and am afraid it may be vaporware).

I did play around with SDR at first,until it seemed like I could get a scanner unit to do the job. A laptop with with flimsy dongles and antennas is not ideal on a boat.

 

[Shawnzen]

25khz step size, FM modulation, and the squelch +1 above minimum, perhaps as low as squelch =02. If still no results, change the modulation to AM.

Thank you—I’ll play with this today.

 

[wtp]

on a collar, it would be a VERY small transmitter.
on omni antenna is the exact opposite of what you want.
yes, i know you want 360 reception, but for the size of the signal you need a yagi and pointed in the right direction.
with 360 reception you would have to be next to the transmitter.

lets just say you need a good antenna.
it would help if you only had a couple of frequencies to listen to and not the whole range.

 

[Shawnzen]

on a collar, it would be a VERY small transmitter.
on omni antenna is the exact opposite of what you want.
yes, i know you want 360 reception, but for the size of the signal you need a yagi and pointed in the right direction.
with 360 reception you would have to be next to the transmitter.
View attachment 95558
lets just say you need a good antenna.
it would help if you only had a couple of frequencies to listen to and not the whole range.

Ah, gotcha. If I could pick up a signal within a half mile at a minimum with the scanner, it would be a big help. Our YAGI handheld can do 4 miles on a good day when we know the frequency. Sounds like a rotating YAGI would be ideal, if that is even possible.

 

[JimD56]

Here is the yagi model you want that comes with a rotator

 

[MStep]

You could do an old trick I learned. Rather than use search mode, use scan mode. Program each individual frequency in 5 of 10 times, right next to each other. Then the radio will spend 5 or 10 times the amount of time per cycle scanning each frequency.

For example, frequency "A" in channels 1 through 5; frequency "B" in channels 6 though 10, on so on. It worked for me.

 

[Ubbe]

It's like techman210 mentioned about the CW modulation. To preserve battery power it transmits in the most economical way, a dead carrier for a very short time and low power, and to get a beep from it you have to use a demodulator that do SSB using a BFO. No Uniden scanners has that. And a very good antenna also helps.

If you know or guess that the signal transmits for 50mS and a BCT15 will have a 60-80ch/s scanrate it will be something like 15-20mS per channel and you can only scan 3 channels at most to actually catch each transmission. If you scan or search 20 channels it is a chance of 1 to 10 that you catch the transmission.

/Ubbe

 

[Shawnzen]

It's like techman210 mentioned about the CW modulation. To preserve battery power it transmits in the most economical way, a dead carrier for a very short time and low power, and to get a beep from it you have to use a demodulator that do SSB using a BFO. No Uniden scanners has that. And a very good antenna also helps.

If you know or guess that the signal transmits for 50mS and a BCT15 will have a 60-80ch/s scanrate it will be something like 15-20mS per channel and you can only scan 3 channels at most to actually catch each transmission. If you scan or search 20 channels it is a chance of 1 to 10 that you catch the transmission.

/Ubbe

I'm beginning to understand now, thank you for that. I guess I'll just have to hope that the R-5000 receiver I mentioned earlier does actually come out.

PRODUCTS, RX-150 Tracking System, Communications Specialists Inc., Telemetry Receiver, Animal Tracking, Yagi Antenna, Radio Signal Tracking

RX-150 Tracking System, Wildlife Tracking, Wildlife Radio Telemetry, Telemetry Receiver, Animal Tracking, Yagi Antenna, Radio Signal Tracking

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